Tag Archives: DIY

I always like to have a bunch of gifts on hand when I travel as I never know when I may want to give a little “thank you” to someone. It doesn’t seem to be a problem for me when I’m traveling by car or in my van. There’s always a little space to pack my gifts.

But it becomes a little more difficult when I travel by air. And our current trip was even more difficult because because we flew back to Arizona where we had left our van. Our suitcases were full of clothes and supplies for six weeks of traveling. There wasn’t much “extra” room. I solved the problem with two of my favorite things, my puffy pentagon boxes and Dagoba chocolate taster squares.

It takes just moments for the puffy pentagon box to go from flat into a delightful little box.

The puffy pentagon box stores flat, making it a perfect choice for taking with me when traveling. And the taster squares don’t take up much space either. The only hard part has been not eating all the chocolate before I give it as a gift.

The perfect paring for a gift, chocolate and a handmade little puffy pentagon box.

Here’s a link to my DIY blog post that details how to make the clover fold box and the template so you can make your own.

As 2016 comes to a close, I am amazed at how much art I accomplished while attending to the needs of others. 2016 has been the most stressful year of my life, and I think making art has been what got me through the year. I would not have made as much art this past year if I had not felt so committed to all of you who read and comment on my blog. I wish to thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I designed my Puffy Pentagon Box for the Oregon Chocolate Festival. This has been a favorite of many of my personal friends as well as those who read my blog on the internet. You can download the template from my blog post: DIY – Puffy Pentagon Box.

These origami envelopes are fun to make and quite addictive, too. They were another favorite DIY blog post. DIY Origami Envelope

I wish to thank Paula Bearded Krieg for the instructions for these wonderful envelopes. My blog post: DIY Origami Envelope includes a link to her instructions.

Although I can look at the numbers and know which post got the most views, it’s impossible to decide which is my most successful blog post of the year. Some posts are viewed a lot. Others have lots of comments. Some are shared a lot, or have lots of Facebook likes or are pinned on Pinterest. Some blog posts have been up for most of the year and some only a few months or weeks.

Winter Walk book designed by Camille Riner that I made from her digital files. This photo has been shared a lot on Pinterest.Tiny Winter Walk Book

So what’s ahead for 2017? Obviously I will continue to do DIY blog posts. There will also be a lot of Art On The Go! blog posts about the paper art I make and see on my travels. And I will be writing about practicing random kindness and senseless acts of beauty throughout 2017 too.

Happy New Year! I look forward to a new and wonderfully creative 2017.

With the Open Studio Tour behind me, I figured it was time to catch up on some overdue correspondence. So, this past week I played with making blobs into birds, ending up with some colorful, happy envelopes. If you missed the instructions for making birds from blobs, check out my blog post: DIY – From Blobs to Birds.

The birds on these envelopes started out as little watercolor blobs. I love how festive they look!

After making the envelopes, I went to my local Post Office and got their last birds stamps. I hope they get more because I plan on making more of these envelopes.

Close up of one of the envelopes. Each of these birds started out as a blob of color on the envelope.

I love how colorful these envelopes are. I demonstrated how to make these little birds during the Open Studio Tour, and they were instant hits.

Close up of one of the envelopes. Each of these birds started out as a blob of color on the envelope.

I played around with different watercolors, and they all worked fine, even the inexpensive ones. All you need are some watercolor paints and a black marker.

Although you can’t see it well in the photo, these birds were mad from metallic painted blobs. They really sparkle.

These envelopes are sure to brighten someone’s day. Why not try making some of your own?

NOTE: For those of you who have signed up to receive my blog posts by email, please know that there was some sort of program glitch this past month and many of the blog posts did not get sent. So, you may want to check my blog itself to see what you missed.

Last year, before my friend Dorothy moved, she gave me a couple sheets of one of her Dinky Doodles. I’m not sure if they’re laser or ink jet copies, but I absolutely love them! I put them away and forgot about them until I was going through the paper piles in my studio closet this past week.

I was able to make all these little boxes from the two papers of Dinky Doodles that Dorothy gave me.

I decided it was time for me to do something with these doodles that Dorothy gave me. The papers were light weight copy paper, so I decided folded little paper boxes would look great out of these papers.

These were the two Dinky Doodle papers that Dorothy gave to me. They are copies of doodles that she makes.

I folded the tops of the boxes out of Dorothy’s paper and made the bottoms of the boxes out of colorful coordinating papers.

Little folded boxes made from Dorothy’s Dinky Doodle papers.

Dorothy paints what she calls Dinky Doodles on papers. It’s fun and easy for anyone to do. Then she copies her doodles. This would be a perfect project to do with children. It would work well with crayons or watercolors or markers.

When I made an enormous amount of paper wrapped pencils a few months ago, I thought they would last at least until the end of the year. Boy was I mistaken! I’ve had to make more for both my own studio and a couple of orders for Nimbus. (Please note: this is not a complaint. I’m super glad they’re so popular.)

Some of the paper wrapped pencils I made this past week.

Nimbus also asked for a few more “masculine” looking pencils. I looked through a number of my paper scraps and I think I came up with a number of papers that have sort of a “masculine” feel to them. What do you think?

These are some of the paper wrapped pencils I made for the request I received for a more “masculine” feel.

The process for wrapping pencils takes a number of days to complete. First I wrap the pencil using acrylic matte medium as my “glue.” Then I apply two coats of acrylic matte medium to the paper on the pencils after they have been wrapped. The pencils need to dry between coats. I then let the pencils dry for a couple more days before wrapping them with raffia to create sets.

Close up. I think these fit the request for a “masculine” paper wrapped pencil.

This past week I wrapped over 100 pencils. Not all of them are dry yet. These should last me through next spring since our local tourist season is now ending.

Another close up. I think these fit the request for a “masculine” pencil. The pencil set in the middle is from a paper of postage stamps.

In just two weeks, I will be opening my home studio to the public during the Ashland Gallery Association Open Studio Tour. It’ll be the first time I’ve opened my home studio for viewing and it’s a little scary for me. I decided to include a number of demonstrations of my more popular blog projects. That includes my ladybug cards and ladybug mobile.

Ladybug cards.

I designed my ladybug cards last summer. They can easily be glued to a card or glued back to back on a string to make a mobile. I’m sure there are many more ways these wonderful ladybugs can be used.

Ladybug card with ladybug mobile in progress.

The ladybugs themselves are made from a square of red paper. When added to the card, they make a wonderful 3-D effect. And when glued to the string of the mobile, they move wonderfully when there is any breeze or other movement around them.

On my last blog post, I gave directions for making long stemmed hearts. Somehow, many of you who subscribe to my blog never received that post. I don’t understand the technology of why that happened, but here’s the link to the DIY instructions: DIY Long Stemmed Hearts.

While these are not the customary colors for hearts, I really like them together as a bouquet.

For that blog post, I made a dozen red long stemmed hearts. And seeing that I had a whole lot of colorful fade resistant papers sitting around my studio, I couldn’t resist making lots more long stemmed hearts is ever so many different colors.

One dozen Long Stemmed Hearts as shown in last week’s blog post.

As I stated last week, I use Pop Tone colors from French Paper Company, located in Niles, Michigan. I had to order directly from the company to get all the colors I wanted.

Purple and pink Long Stemmed Hearts.

One of the things I love about these hearts is that I don’t have to remember to water them. I can leave for a week or two without worrying about them. No wilting. No watering. As a matter of fact, it’s not advisable to water them at all.

I love the bright colors of these Long Stemmed Hearts.

All week, I just kept making all different colors of folded paper hearts. I kept trying out how different color combinations looked together. It was so much fun!

Green and yellow Long Stemmed Hearts.

The vases I used for most of today’s photos used to hold balsamic vinegar. They make great vases. I bought the balsamic vinegar at Trader Joe’s years ago. I don’t know if they still sell it in these glass bottles. I added the band of red cord to coordinate the vase with the wrapping of embroidery thread on the hearts.

Pastel Long Stemmed Hearts.

I have also found lovely vases at yard sales and estate sales. Look around and you’re likely to find the perfect vase for your Long Stemmed Hearts.

I made some long stemmed hearts a number of years ago for Valentine’s Day. Recently, I noticed that a number of the colors had faded from being in the sun. So, I decided to make them again using fade resistant papers. I also decided to simplify the process I and share my instructions here.

These paper long stemmed hearts look great in these three vases I purchased years ago from Ikea.

I got a variety of colored papers from French Paper Company which is located in Niles, Michigan. I used their line of Pop Tone colors. These papers are some of the most lightfast, fade resistant papers available. They come in a wonderful variety of colors, too.

This is how I make my Long Stemmed Hearts.

Instructions:

Cut paper 8.5″ by 2.5″ with the paper grain going the 2.5″ direction. Fold the paper in half like in #1 above (note: the fold is on the right). If you don’t know about paper grain, check out my blog post that explains it at: Understanding Paper Grain Direction.

Draw an arc in pencil like in #2 above. It should be just a bit higher on the fold line (that’s where the center of the heart will be).

Cut the arc and start folding. Fold towards the center fold as in #3 above.

Continue folding as in #4 above, folding each fold in half.

Continue folding as in #5 above, folding each fold in half again.

Continue folding as in #6 above, folding each fold in half again.

Put the accordion folded heart into a bulldog clip as in #7 above (or secure it with rubber bands). Tie embroidery thread around the bottom of the heart using a square knot. Put a dab of glue on the knot.

Wrap the long end of the thread around the knot about a dozen times with the short end of the thread still visible above the wrapping. Tie the ends together with a square knot. Glue around the thread, including the knot as in #8 above. You can see the wet glue in the photo, but it dries clear. I used PVA glue, but a white glue like Elmers would work well too. Cut the thread after the glue is dry. For those wanting a super clean looking wrap, put the thread on a needle and thread it under the now glued wrapped thread.

Push a bamboo skewer through the center of the heart, between the center fold and the thread. Push the skewer all the way down to where the thread goes around the heart. Gently open the heart. It should look like # 9 above.

One dozen red paper long stemmed hearts. Make your own and look for unique ways to display them

These are fun to make. And now that I have simplified how I make them, they go fairly quickly. Before I actually sewed the folds at the bottom of each heart. This way is much quicker.

These paper long stemmed hearts won’t wilt and you don’t have to remember to water them either.

I was testing out some watercolor combinations and ended up with a number of splotches and blobs on my paper. A little playing with these and I ended up with some cute little birds.

Two little birds made from watercolor blobs. Mother and son?

It’s really simple. Make some somewhat circular watercolor blobs on a paper. Outline the blobs with a waterproof marker. Then add details like dots for eyes, squiggles for the tail, a triangle for a beak, lines for the legs and feet, and possibly a wing.

These little birds are so easy to make. Just a watercolor blob and a few lines.

These are so cute. They can be added to envelopes, place cards, journal pages and so much more. I think these would make a great children’s activity.

A page from my sketchbook showing a few birds made from blobs of watercolors.

I am pretty sure I saw something like this somewhere, but I can’t remember where, probably on the internet. It might have been done with fingerprints. Anyway, play around with this and come up with your own playful little birds.

I haven’t spent much time in my studio this past week as I was camping in the high desert of Oregon. It was a wonderful time for me to relax and commune with nature. It was very restorative and I now have a lot more art energy pent up. I’m ready to start working on my art with a new vigor.

After cutting these flowers, I put paste papers behind the cut out portions to give them each unique colors and patterns.

What time I did spend in my studio was playing around with the paper cutting I started last month. I made a few more flower designs and played with putting some of my paste papers behind them the cut out areas.

A single hand cut flower backed with painted paste paper.

I like the look of these and will continue to explore imitrex paper cutting. I am sure this is just the beginning of a new addition to my paper addiction.

The last time I was up in Portland, I picked up a couple of rolls of paper washi tape at Collage, an art supply store. I didn’t know what I would do with them when I bought them, but I knew I’d figure out something. Yesterday I used the washi tape to wrap pencils.

These two pencils were wrapped with paper washi tape.

Washi tape is a paper tape that comes in lots of colors and designs. It comes in lots of different widths too. There are so many ways to use this tape. I’ve been afraid to buy too much of it because I’m afraid it could become quite addictive. Other than adding it to decorate envelopes, this is my first attempt at using it.

I cut my washi tape almost the length of my pencil, then started wrapping it around the pencil.

Usually I wrap my pencils with scraps of decorated paper (for instructions on that see: Paper Wrapped Pencils). When wrapping pencils, I use acrylic matte medium and it can get a little messy. Using washi tape to wrap pencils is both faster and less messy.

I taped the washi tape on itself to make for a wider tape that would wrap around the pencil.

I started by cutting my washi tape just a little shorter than my pencil, then wrapping it around the pencil. That worked fine for my first washi tape which was wide enough to wrap around the entire pencil. For the narrower washi tape, I simply taped the tape to itself to make a wider tape. It worked wonderfully.

The finished washi tape pencil.

Then I sharpened the pencils and I was done. I think I’ll visit Collage for more washi tape the next time I’m in Portland. They have the largest selection of washi tape that I’ve seen at any retail store.

While I was at my week long Calligraphy and Art Retreat a couple of weeks ago, I tried my hand at paper cutting. This was my first time drawing and then cutting my design in paper, sort of like cutting a stencil. Now that I’m home, I decided to try using the technique to make a greeting card.

My first attempt at paper cutting.

I made a pretty easy and basic design. I have seen some amazing hand cut papers and this is not one of them. This is me, a beginner at paper cutting, showing you what I did. I started with a piece of Strathmore Aquarius watercolor paper. I cut a strip 5″ by 11″ and folded it into thirds. On the center third I used a pencil to draw my design. This is the back of the paper and I cut from the back also.

I drew my design (rather loosely) on the middle third of my paper.

Once the design was drawn, I cut it out, more freeform than following the lines exactly. I used a craft knife with an x-acto #11 blade. I think I’m going to get a 100 blade pack. This paper cutting is a lot of fun.

Completed card and one showing how I didn’t always follow my pencil drawing lines. I made slight alterations as I cut.

After I cut out my design. I glued a colored paper behind the cut out. I used glue stick. Then I used double sided tape to cover the back side of the colored paper. I will try some different designs soon.

If you want to see some incredible paper cuts, check out these links. And don’t expect me to be making anything like these anytime soon. I’ll stay with simpler paper cutting. Still, this is wonderful eye candy.Mr. RiuKaren Bit VejleEmma Boyes

It’s time for my yearly art retreat! I’m packing my calligraphy supplies and a few clothes. The calligraphy supplies take priority on this trip. And I always take a little something to share with my retreat buddies. This year, it’s my Puffy Pentagon Boxes.

These Puffy Pentagon Boxes are going to be gifts to my artist friends, chocolate included inside.

Of course my Puffy Pentagon Boxes need something to go inside them. So I made a trip to Dagoba Chocolate here in Ashland.

Dagoba Chocolate makes their chocolate right here in Ashland, so it’s so easy to just pick up chocolate whenever I need it. I particularly like their Taster Squares which fit very nicely in many of the boxes I make.

I used scans of my painted paste papers to make these Puffy Pentagon Boxes.

If you want to make your own Puffy Pentagon Boxes, I have instructions and a template you can print out on my blog post: DIY – Puffy Pentagon Box.

I made enough Puffy Pentagon Boxes to have extras on hand. When open, they are flat, so they are easy to store.

Another trip this past week in Josie, our new-to-us camper, gave me a little more experience in organizing and making art while traveling. With limited space, I had to pick my project carefully and decide what to take on this trip. For this trip it was cutting and folding tea bag wrappers.

This tea bag rosette was made from 8 tea bag wrappers like the one in the photo above.

My friends have been graciously saving and giving me their tea bag wrappers for a number of months and I have amassed a rather large number of them. I decided to take a stack of the tea bag wrappers with me and cut them into 2″ squares as well as start folding them into rosettes. I wanted to try a new fold I had found and see how it looked when folded.

I have great friends who have saved their tea bag wrappers for me. I now have a great treasure trove of many varieties of tea, many of which I never new about.

This trip was easy to pack for because I didn’t need to do any prep work other than gathering the supplies and putting them in the van. I just packed a small cutter, some tea bag wrappers, the new instructions I had just found and a little glue. It all fit in one small bag.

This is the portable cutter I took with me. It was easy to cut 2″ squares from tea bag wrappers.

I enjoyed playing with the tea bags and the new fold. What I found was that cutting and both folding use similar muscle groups. For future trips, I’d like to include more variety in what I take with me to work on while traveling.

This photo shows the original tea bag wrapper and how it looks cut into a 2″ square along with the completed rosette made of 8 of the 2″ squares.

It’s going to take lots more trips to get through all my tea bag wrappers. I have some ideas I want to try out along with different folds and color combinations.

I didn’t know there were this many different Stash teas. I love all the different colors of the wrappers. I see a rainbow in the future.

The first half of my week was working on Origami Mandalas (see Art On The Go! – Making Origami Mandalas). The last half of the week was spent thinking about Father’s Day. Do you realize, it’s less than a week away?

Chocolate in their own boxes for Gary, Nelson, Bob & Warren for Father’s Day.

My father has made it difficult for me, again, by requesting no gifts. He says he doesn’t have room to store more “stuff.” I get that, but it’s hard for me not to get him something for Father’s Day.

I figure I can get away with giving him some chocolate. That’s edible and won’t take up space once it’s eaten. Dagoba Taster Squares are perfect since they are like individual small bites. They can be easily saved (or eaten immediately).

I made each box in the favorite color of the recipient.

Since my dad and I we will be with 3 other fathers on Father’s Day, I decided to make 4 boxes, one for each of the fathers and fill them with Dagoba Taster Squares.

You can download the template for making these boxes from my blog post: DIY – Truffle Box. I also show how to close the box once it is made.